With “Collateral Damage,” I commemorate the lives of civilians killed in the war in Iraq. Each civilian life lost is represented with an “X.” Of a total of 600,000 civilans killed as estimated by the New York Times (October 10, 2006), the pages in the Place Gallery exhibit tallied over 300,000. Each piece is set in an unfinished pine frame. The final exhibition will fill a room completely.

This work is also performed in public as an intervention in an attempt to draw attention to the daily catastrophe and to encourage dialog. An intervention consists of me simply sitting at a table marking pages with X’s. A copy of the New York Times article is on hand.

Place Gallery 2009. Photograph: Drew Anderson

Place Gallery, 2009

Intervention, Times Square, New York, 2008

What does a word mean when it is used so widely to manipulate public opinion. How do we respond to the feelings of violation, theft, paranoia, and grief that terror wrecks on our society? There are two distinct facets to this project, one a fine art piece for gallery viewing, the second a street graphic designed to fit over newspaper box windows. I am interested in recontextualizing images and words to reveal new meanings.

This piece was censored by the arts publication that originally commissioned it, and subsequently rejected by a printer based on its political content. Next it was printed as the subject of an article in a different arts journal who was warned against reproducing the image by the ACLU. The final version was created for the “Sedition” group show at the Mark Woolley Gallery.

Burning Well No. 28.5" x 11" sticker, offset litho2004

Like father, like son. As George Bush Jr. began his invasion and bombing of Iraq, I reprised a sticker that I made more than a decade earlier.

Burning Well No. 18.5" x 11" sticker, offset litho1991

“These Colors”Silkscreen and Monoprint, 15” x 22”, 2005

“These Colors Don’t Run” is a familiar slogan accompanying images of the United States flag. It’s often used by the right wing, and becomes a rallying cry for war and xenophobia. I am in the process of expanding this project to a public environment. Screen-printed posters using water-based inks are posted on the street and documented as it rains and they “run.”

“The Fall of Saigon”Silkscreen and Monoprint, 15” x 22”, 2005

On May 1, 2005 the New York Times ran a photo on the front page of an army of marchers in Saigon pushing shopping carts. It appears capitalism and democracy are finally victorious in Vietnam.